Oklahoma Teen Commits Suicide After anti-gay rhetoric City Council Meeting

The latest in a string of tragic suicides by gay youth, Zach Harrington ended his life after hearing anti-gay rhetoric at a City Council meeting.

According to Andrew Knittle of the Norman Transcript,
19-year-old Harrington attended a Sept. 28 meeting at City Hall in his
hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, the purpose of which was to discuss a
proposal to designate October as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender
History Month in Norman. The council ended up voting for the measure,
but lots of the meeting's attendees were against it. Knittle writes,

One man said he moved to Norman because he thought it was the kind of
place that would never accept the GLBT community with open arms. A
woman, who described herself as "bi-racial," said she was tired of the
GLBT plight being compared to Civil Rights.

Some of those who opposed the proclamation claimed that members of
the GLBT community would use it to infiltrate the public school system,
essentially allowing the "gay lifestyle" to become a part of the
curriculum.

Others claimed that council recognizing October as GLBT History Month
was a waste of their time. Some members of the audience even suggested
that any council members voting in favor of the proclamation may have
trouble getting reelected.

Harrington's family thinks the meeting may have triggered his
suicide. His sister Nikki says, "When he was sitting there, I'm sure he
was internalizing everything and analyzing everything … that's the kind
of person he was. I'm sure he took it personally." Harrington also
apparently faced a homophobic environment growing up — his father says
he "feared for his safety on many occasions" in high school, and his
sister, who is older and went to the same school, says, "There was one
gay guy in my high school at the time, and he was made fun of all the
time. It was a pretty much non-stop thing at school."

The tragically long list of suicides by LGBT youth in recent weeks
can seem like a pattern, but at least one expert says it's just a matter
of increased visibility. Last week, Dave Reynolds of The Trevor Project told Towleroad,

From what we know and can tell, there has not been an increase in
suicide completions among lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and
questioning (LGBTQ) youth over the past few weeks. Sadly, there are
likely this many deaths every week, but the media and the general
populace are just starting to realize the depth of this public health
and social justice issue.

It's horrifying that so many young people have had to die for us to
finally pay attention, and incredibly sad that we have to mark National Coming Out Day
by mourning the death of another teenager. All the advocacy in the
world won't bring Zach Harrington back, but we can honor his memory by
making sure that LGBT suicides aren't just another story of the week, but an urgent call to support gay youth and fight against those who torment them.

Once Upon A Time wrote:OMG! It seems like every other day another young gay person commits suicide! This is horrible

The bottom line is suicides happen every day, many of the people who commit suicide are not gay. For some reason recently it appears the news is only covering suicides by gays and not all the other ones that happen.I attempted suicide 3 times before the age of 12 because I suffer from clinical depression and hadn't been diagnosed and given medication to deal with it.

• Worldwide there are more deaths due to suicide than to accidents, homicidesand war combined.• About 30,000 people in the United States die by suicide every year.• Currently, suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S.• Every day, approximately 80 Americans take their own life, and 1,500 moreattempt to do so.• A person dies by suicide about every 18 minutes in the U.S. An attempt isestimated to be made once every minute.• Over ninety percent of people who die by suicide had at least one psychiatricillness at the time of death. The most common diagnoses are depression anddrug and/or alcohol abuse.• Youth suicide rates vary widely among different racial and ethnic groups. In2001, white youth had a suicide rate of 11.5 per 100,000, compared to rates of7.3 for African Americans, 6.1 for Hispanics youth, 6.4 for Asian Americans and18.8 for American Indians and Alaskan Natives.http://www.afsp.org/files/College_Film//factsheets.pdf

The Suicide rate with Gay Teens are higher than any other. It's a well known fact since you like to google, go google Suicide and Gay Teens. You'll see numerous of sources talking about the high rates with Gay Teens more than any other.

why do you think it's such a concern for people? Some sources have it at 60% of teens who kill themselves identify as Gay. It's terrible. And this isn't something where it's like "Gay people are just trying to be on top." Cause really? Who'd want to be on top for something like this?

Gemini9857 wrote:Is that the only reason they kill themselves? Or could there be another underlying reason like depression?

Them being gay plays into it yes. Growing up constantly hearing how you're going to hell, getting beat up, having faggot/dyke written on your locker probably doesn't help your mentality. I'd harbor a guess going through that every day does make a person depressed.

Gemini9857 wrote:Is that the only reason they kill themselves? Or could there be another underlying reason like depression?

Them being gay plays into it yes. Growing up constantly hearing how you're going to hell, getting beat up, having faggot/dyke written on your locker probably doesn't help your mentality. I'd harbor a guess going through that every day does make a person depressed.

Yeah, and I'm sure that if they grow up in an anti-gay household/family that factors in too. Not being able to come out to your own family is terrible.

I'm sorry, but you are an incredibly weak individual if listening to a few outspoken nuts at a city council meeting drives you to end your life. Why go at all to an event that is by definition going to debate this topic if you're so sensitive?

Being gay is not always easy, but plenty of people face worse hardships every day without taking the easy way out.

Blazermaniac wrote:I'm sorry, but you are an incredibly weak individual if listening to a few outspoken nuts at a city council meeting drives you to end your life. Why go at all to an event that is by definition going to debate this topic if you're so sensitive?

Being gay is not always easy, but plenty of people face worse hardships every day without taking the easy way out.

Blazermaniac wrote:I'm sorry, but you are an incredibly weak individual if listening to a few outspoken nuts at a city council meeting drives you to end your life. Why go at all to an event that is by definition going to debate this topic if you're so sensitive?

Being gay is not always easy, but plenty of people face worse hardships every day without taking the easy way out.

You never know what is going to be someone's "last straw". Obviously all of these suicides are deeper than just one incident. The last thing that happened before they do it is not the point.

Blazermaniac wrote:
I'm sorry, but you are an incredibly weak individual if listening to a few outspoken nuts at a city council meeting drives you to end your life. Why go at all to an event that is by definition going to debate this topic if you're so sensitive?

Being gay is not always easy, but plenty of people face worse hardships every day without taking the easy way out.

I understand where you are coming from. Alot of people face hardships in their lives and even some worse than being gay but there can be other ways to find peace. Granted, we have no idea what this young man has been going through. Being harrassed and teased and being called names is awful just because people do not argree with his life style can be terrible and may feel this is the only way out. And it has to be getting harder and harder with all the attention this issue has got lately. Rip young man.

However, I have a chronic illiness and get picked on and called names all the time. Because of my medication I have gained tons of weight even when I try to eat healthy. I get called names about my weight all the time. I have a friend and some family that have called me lazy because I do not want to go alot of places. It is not that I do not want to go, my pain will not allow me to most days. I do not dare get a cart or handicap sticker because of the names people call you because it is not a illiness that you can see. I have fell down in public many times because my feet and legs are so painful and weak some days. I fell today up the porch becaue I could not lift my leg high enough to get up the stairs. I get depressed everyday because I can not do the things I once could and I am still young. People look at me so differntly know because of it and have lost friends. Point being, there are not to many people out there that do not have alot of problems in their lives and there is other outlets to help. I hope everyone who is at their breaking point can get help before it is to late and the world will wake up to what bullying, verbally and physically does to people.

Blazermaniac wrote:I'm sorry, but you are an incredibly weak individual if listening to a few outspoken nuts at a city council meeting drives you to end your life. Why go at all to an event that is by definition going to debate this topic if you're so sensitive?

Being gay is not always easy, but plenty of people face worse hardships every day without taking the easy way out.

I'm not surprised at ALL you'd think he's weak. Especially considering you're a Gay Republican who supports a party who thinks you're less of a man than straight people. I should be shocked..but so not. Seriously. People like you man..

There is a strong contingent of GLBT folks in Norman in spite of all the extreme bigotry in the area. I know a couple, the woman is omnisexual (how she puts it) and her husband has been transitioning from female to male for some time now. Anyway, I haven't seen her post about this on her wall so she didn't know the young man. She'd be the first one announcing it if she knew him.